The other 2 persons are more complicated: The 1st person plural has 3 different subject endings and no object endings. So when an object is in the 1st person plural it is always a separate pronoun (see Pronouns). The 3 subject endings are:

-lmë: this is called the 'exclusive we', because it is used when the listener is not included in the group that is meant by "we":

hautalmë means "we stop [but not you]"

-lvë: this is called the 'inclusive we', because it is used when the listener is also included in the group that is meant by "we":

hautalvë means "we stop [including you]"

-mmë: this is used when "we" contains exactly 2 people, so it is usually translated as "both of us":

hautammë "the two of us stop"

The 3rd person singular also has more than one ending:

-s: this ending is used as an object ending or as a subject ending when no object ending is present:

hautanyes "I stop him/her/it", hautas "he/she/it stops"

-sse: this ending is used as a subject ending when an object ending is present, though also by itself:

hautassel "he/she/it stops you"

In the past an ending -rye was theorized based on the possessive -rya; however this has not yet been attested, and we instead find -sse as well as inanimate -ssa.

However, this is not all: there are also non-pronominal endings that are used when the subject is something other than a pronoun. In this case there can be no object ending, the object is thus always represented by a separate word or pronoun.

The singular non-pronominal form does not have an ending: i aran hauta "the king stops"

The plural non-pronominal ending is -r: i eldar hautar "the elves stop"

The plural non-pronominal ending is also used when the subject is in the dual or partitive plural:

i eldu hautar "both elves stop"

eldali hautar "some elves stop"

in the third person singular there exist two alternative endings for -sse- that can express gender, though these seem to be limited to Qenya of the 1940s and earlier: -ro- for a male subject and -re- for a female subject:

tirirot "he sees them"

tiriret "she sees them"

It is interesting to note that in sentences where a free pronoun is present, which serves to emphasise the subject of the sentence, the presence of the free pronoun may allow a verb to stand without the corresponding ending:

The easiest tense is the Aorist as it is formed by the verbal stem from the dictionary and the endings we discussed before. So in fact all forms above are Aorists. It is used as an alternative present tense (see below), and so it isn't a past tense as its Greek namesake.

The formation of this tense can be seen in the next table. Only the non-pronominal forms are included as the others can be constructed by replacing the -r of the plural non-pronominal form with the right pronominal ending.

Note that the forms without an ending have a vowel change in the Primitive verbs and the U-stems.

The Aorist Tense

Primitive

A-stems

U-stems

stem

hir-

hauta-

nicu-

meaning

find

stop

snow

singular

hirë

hauta

niquë

plural

hirir

hautar

niquir

Note that some verbs have a long vowel in the stem so their Aorists also contain a long vowel:

This tense is also called the Continuative tense. The usage and its contrast with the Aorist Tense are explained below.

The major principle behind this tense is the central vowel-lengthening. The central vowel is the vowel in the final syllable of a primitive verb, or the vowel in the last syllable but one in an A-stem or U-stem verb. Of course this lengthening can only happen if the syllable isn't long by itself.

Following syllables are already long and cannot be lengthened:

a syllable with a diphthong, e.g. hauta- "stop"

a syllable with a long vowel, e.g. súya- "breathe"

a syllable in which the vowel is followed by more than one consonant, e.g. harna- "wound"

Furthermore, the primitive and U-stems get an extra -a at the end of the stem and the final -a of the A-stems changes into -ëa. So this gives:

The Present Tense

with vowel lengthening

Primitive

A-stems

U-stems

stem

hir-

cava-

palu-

meaning

find

dig

spread

singular

híra

cávëa

pálua

plural

hírar

cávëar

páluar

The Present Tense

without vowel lengthening

Primitive

A-stems

U-stems

stem

súya-

nurru-

meaning

breathe

grumble

singular

súyëa

nurrua

plural

súyëar

nurruar

There is one verb with an irregular Present Tense: ten- "indicate, show". Its present tense is formed with the stem tëa-:

To negate a verb we use the corresponding conjugated form of ua- followed by the infinitive of the original verb:

cenin i alda "I see the tree" → uan cenë i alda "I don't see the tree"

Normally Quenya has the aorist form of ua followed by the tense-conjugated verb, but in archaic or verse Quenya ua can be conjugated and the following verb will remain in the aorist:

(Normal / prose) uan mantë mámalya "I did not eat your sheep"

(Archaic / verse) únen matë mámalya "I did not eat your sheep"

With a modal verb, the negation is expressed by two consecutive infinitives:

i híni polir capë "the children can jump" → i híni uar polë capë "the children cannot jump"

The verb ua- is also used to negate a sentence with ná:

i aran ná taura "the king is mighty" → i aran ua taura "the king is not mighty"

When a verb has an object ending (and thus also a subject ending) we never use ua- because it normally doesn't get object endings. In this case the verb form is unchanged but preceded by the particle lá:

hirnenyes "I have found it" → lá hirnenyes "I haven't found it"

The verb ëa is also always negated by using lá:

ëa huan i coassë "There is a dog in the house" → lá ëa huan i coassë "there is no dog in the house"